Allentown man accused of $127,000 bank fraud

Frank Warner, Of The Morning Call

An Allentown man was charged Thursday with defrauding four banks of more than $127,000 by allegedly drawing on the banks' lines of credit and trying to repay the short-term loans with checks that bounced.

Coi Nguyen, 44, of Lehigh Street set up several lines of credit at the banks and then regularly drew on them, making payments from other bank accounts, which eventually had too little cash to cover his bills, U.S. Attorney Zane D. Memeger said.

From March 2003 to July 2009, Nguyen opened lines of credit at Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Citizens Bank and State Farm Bank, the federal indictment says. Most of the alleged fraud occurred in 2009.

Eventually, Nguyen tried to cover up the scheme by filing for bankruptcy on Dec. 10, 2009, and again on Aug. 4, 2011, the indictment says.

According to the indictment, in early 2009 Nguyen started tapping his various bank credit lines even though he was aware he could not make the required repayments.

In one instance, Nguyen collected $19,500 from a Bank of America line of credit April 21, 2009, the indictment says. He wrote a June 19, 2009, Sovereign Bank check to cover that charge, but the Sovereign account had insufficient funds, prosecutors said.

On June 27, 2009, he allegedly tapped a Citizens Bank account for a $6,000 credit charge at Kim Thanh Jewelry in Philadelphia and a $1,907 cash advance at Caesar's Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City. His Sovereign Bank check to pay those bills was returned, again for insufficient funds, the indictment says.

Several similar transactions are listed in the indictment.

If convicted of the bank fraud and bankruptcy fraud charges, Nguyen could face a sentence of up to 130 years in prison and a $4.5 million fine.